Day 13 – Viana to Logroño

Walked today: 7.3 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 95.0 miles

By first light we were on our way to Logroño. The temperature was a delightfully cool 61F.

We passed through a community garden area, then on a paved road through vineyards before joining a dirt path that continued to the outskirts of Logroño, just before sunrise.

We crossed a main highway via an overpass/footbridge then walked through a small forrested area.

After about 4 miles we passed the sign showing we were leaving Navarre and entered the region of Ríoja.

… then back onto a paved walkway up a gradual incline through an industrial section. then steeper, then back down again.

As we walked the final mile to Logroño, we chatted with a nice lady from Denmark who was on her 6th Camino. She lives on a small island with only 150 inhabitants. She appeared remarkably fit, especially so when she revealed she was 85 years old! We’ve hop-scotched with she and her companion the past several days and will probably encounter them again.

The final few yards were through a park along the Ebro Río then across the Puente la Piedra into Logroño.

The Puente la Piedra was originally built by Santo Domingo de la Calzada, in the 11th century then rebuilt by his disciple, San Juan de Ortega.

Logroño is the capital of the region of Riója, and has one of the highest per capita income of all Spain regions due to its wine industry. It has produced wines for over 2000 years, mostly reds from the Tempranilla grape.

The Pilgrim’s office is located next to the bridge, but didn’t open until 9 a.m., which wasn’t very useful for us at 8:20, so we continued across the bridge and found our own directions to the “estacíon bus” on a city map as we exited the bridge.

We skipped the old city section and headed uphill toward the bus station and arrived some 7.3 miles into our walk. After a little bit of struggling with the language to figure out what bus we needed to get back to Viana and where to buy the ticket, we succeeded in purchasing two bus tickets(1.30€) to Viana, departing at 10:00 a.m. There was a bar in the bus station where we bought breakfast and waited to board the correct bus. At 10:00 we boarded our bus and made the brief 15 minute trip to Viana.

We’ve had several meals at Mesón Kiko, a restaurant/bar just two doors down from Pencion San Pedro on Calle Medio San Pedro, #9. Unlike many of the other places we have visited in Viana, they are very customer oriented, especially for non-locals.

The owner is the chef and his 22 year old son runs the restaurant and doesn’t hesitate to try and communicate in French, English or Italian (tonight), making it easier for ordering, and flexible in offering what the customer wants. Their menu is varied, inexpensive, tasty and its available nearly all day long, unusual for Spain. If you are visiting Viana on the Camino or otherwise, we would highly recommend it.

For lunch today we had pintxos at two different restaurants. You get a pintxo and a glass of wine typically for about 2-3€. On Fridays and special days, in Viana, you get it for 1.5€!

Linda shared two pintxos with Jim and then opted for a nice plate of melon, pineapple and jamon (ham) and decided not to indulge in Jim’s second set of pintxos, baby eel on salmon and pickled olives/hot peppers.

We napped much of the afternoon and had supper at Mesón Kiko, bidding our farewells to the staff.